johnceggleston

my wife's 97 avalon has a warning light for brake light bulbs being out, but i've never heard of that for a subaru. maybe the hand brake is still on one click, too much college? stuff in the way. or maybe a bad sensor in the master cylinder fluid tank. or maybe low fluid, i know, she just checked it. or if the ABS light was on as well, it would be the alternator, but that light isn't on. so..... she probably should have someone check the brakes just to be safe. good luck.

of all the things i have removed from these cars, this was in the top 3 as most difficult. disconnecting anywhere but at the unit is a really good idea.

flashing power light or AT Temp light at start up is an indicator of a TCU code, a problem on the last drive cycle. there is a "handshake" for accessing the coeds. you can search for it here "readtranscodes" or "transcodes".

this is not an uncommon problem. those who know more than i do seem to think it is associated with crappy aftermarket axles, they transmit the engine vibration to the rest of the car. it seems odd to me but when the axle/s were replaced and the problem solved it is hard to argue against. but some one else will know more. did it do this before you bought it? have you had an axle replaced? any recent service? a fluid change wouldn't hurt, check at 30k replace at 60k. but if you want your trans to outlast the car replace it every 30k. you can do it your self, drain the trans pan, and fill with the same amount, about 3.5QTs. drive a bit and repeat. the trans hols about 9+ qts. i doubt you need a torque converter, or a trans for that matter. i have never read of a subaru TC going bad. used parts online http://www.car-part.com

dextrol 3 is auto trans fluid, so is 4 and 5, just newer and more improved. any of the 3 is good, just do not use brake or another fluid.

dumb question: have you checked the fluid level? is the noise a belt squeal or a pump / rack noise? i had belt squeal at start up after my engine swap on my 97 GT, so i tighten the belt. it came back a few weeks later so i bought a gator back? belt. that fixed it for months. but sadly it has started making noise again. i think i'll swap in a different pump, since i have one on the shelf. this car is a little more difficult to turn than my outback. but it may need an alignment. we'll see. good luck with the noise.

you guys are amazing to keep at this, frustration would have killed me by now if it were my car. what if you jump out the clutch pedal "safety" switch so the car does not know the clutch pedal has been depressed. i did this on my 90 nissan pickup when i had a no-start problem. this will not cure the cause, but if it eliminates the problem it maybe worth it. cars were made for a lot of years where the only safety switch was in the drivers brain. and of course safety switches were added because they prevent injuries. so if you try this you have to be much more careful. i do this in my pickup by ALWAYS putting on the hand brake when turning the car off. apologies if this has been tried, i've been following this thread, but do not remember all the work done. good luck finding a fix.

there are lots of places that these engines leak oil, head gaskets is not a usual one. it could be from spilling oil during an oil change, or the o-ring on the fill spout, or the cam shaft seals, valve covers, crank seal or oil pump o-ring.... what engine? history? is it time for a timing belt? with the engine out i'd do any and all leaking seals on the front of the engine and the oil separator plate on the rear as a minimum. plus as much as you can afford in timing belt components especially idlers that sound funny. but not the head gaskets unless they are bad. what engine? are you doing the work yourself?

you can double check here: 97 - 98 outback http://opposedforces.com/parts/legacy/us_b11/type_45/suspension_and_axle/rear_suspension/ 96 legacy L / LS http://opposedforces.com/parts/legacy/us_b11/type_6/suspension_and_axle/rear_suspension/

to get the engine out, you will need to remove the "dogbone" on top of and at the rear of the engine at the fire wall, since you will need to jack up the front of the trans so the engine mount bolts will clear the cross member. if it is an auto trans car, DO NOT jack up the trans at the trans oil pan, move the jack forward until it is under the front diff part of the trans-axle. you can damage the trans by placing the jack under the the trans pan.

width wise and over all contour it will fit. but because the outback has a thicker , larger diameter, sway bar, you will have to also swap in the rubber "bushings" as well.

what if you leave the A, B, and C? pillars on an outback wagon and just cut off the rear section of roof and rear hatch, like a baja?.

true, but where is the leaking seal and how hard is it to fix??

i have no reason to believe that the information above is not accurate, but i might hold off on making it a permanent part of the board until we have some successes.

well it could be better design, better performance, maybe easier to work on, but i bet it's cheaper. this is usually the driving force behind car company decisions.

did the noise change with the new gear oil? are you sure it isn't a front bearing? or an axle? how many miles? if you drove it very much while low on gear oil you will have some damage. but there is no telling how long it will last. but usually, i think, they get loud before they actually fail. most folks just swap the trans instead of swapping the front diff. you have to pull the transmission to mess with the diff and once it is out, it is less work to install a different one than to replace the front diff and reinstall the old one. especially if you are paying someone to do the work. as long as it is running you have time to look around and maybe come across a deal. 200$ is a deal, in my opinion. about the other trans you have, except for the front diff, it is EXACTLY the same as the one in your car. but very, very few people open them up and replace parts. it is just too easy to get a whole replacement trans and move on. i'd try and resell it, put the money towards the trans you need. and finally, some folks have swapped a legacy trans and rear diff into an outback, or vice versa. yes the speedo will be off, ~8%, that's 4.8 miles per hour at 60mph. and the difference in power is like putting outback size tires on a legacy (90 - 99). the result will be a little less power but more fuel economy. if you down size your outback tires from 205-70-15 to a 195-60-15 you will end up where you started, speedo good and power the same. i just didn't want to scare you away form a possible solution without knowing all the details and possibilities.

has this been posted before? i found this over on the legacy gt forum and thought it should be included here. i was impressed. apparently the cause of the 99 speedo failure is a bad ground connection on the speedo circuit board. by adding a a wire to replace the bad connection the speedo will work again. and although you have to pull the speedo to fix it you do not have to remove the circuit board from the speedo. (EDIT: i've been looking at the pics and i'm not sure you can fix it with out removing the circuit board, FYI.) the the blue "s" shaped wire is the fix, see the pics. pics: write up, not by original fixer: So I just had this problem in a 99 Legacy Outback that I got and searched the internets and found the solution(at least to my particular problem). Here's a test, if your speedo isn't working and you push in the trip odometer and it starts working again(however briefly) then both of your speed sensors are just fine. The 99s seem to have a problem with a ground in the chipboard of the speedo unit itself. Here's how to fix it. Sorry for the lack of pictures but i'll try to describe it in detail. Start by unhooking your negative battery terminal so you don't zap yourself and/or set of the airbag accidentally. Remove the two screws at the top of the shroud covering the speedometer and the two at the bottom as well underneath the switches(fog lights cruise). Now the whole shroud should come off with a little persuasion and you can get your hand or fingers in there to pop off all the wiring harnesses to your different switches(cruise fog lights etc.) Remember where they are, or as I like to do, take a cell phone picture. Now there are two more screws on the top and two more on the bottom holding your speedometer cluster in place. Remove all of those and wiggle your speedometer out a little bit. There are a total of 4 harnesses to disconnect, one on the top left, two on the top right, and one directly in the middle(the speedo "cable") Take the whole cluster out and bring it inside to work on a table or something. Take the cluster apart by removing the plastic shield in front and unscrewing the 5 screws right behind the speedo head in the back of the board by where the speedo cables' harness was. When you get the whole speedo head out, pull off the chipboard and look at the middle pin of the 5 pins that the harness plugs into. It has a chipboard wire going a few mms to a soldering point called ground. This is the problem with your speedo. The 99s have a bad connection to that ground. THIS IS REALLY EASY!!! all you have to do is take a small wire from anything and solder it to the middle pin and solder the other side to the ground. Voila. You're done! You just bypassed the bad connections on the board with your own wire and now it has constant ground and will be happy. Put everything back together the same way you pulled it apart and your speedometer will be eternally grateful. I had never taken any part of my interior apart, and done VERY little soldering or dealing with chipboards before, and the entire process took me about an hour and a half. hope this helps. taglines: speedofix, 99speedofix

congrats on the fix. i'm not sure i would have stuck it out. and kudos to ob99 for his help.

you can probably sell the trans for 250$ - 300$ to help offset the cost of the outback trans you need. http://www.car-part.com why do you need a trans??

i wonder just how long these engines would run if ALL the maintenance was done as it should??

yes, 15.9 Gal US, or 60 Liters.

i'd replace the battery in the remote. this may not be the problem especially in light of the loaner car that had the same problem. but they are cheap and it can't hurt.

95 - 99 have the abs tone ring on the hub, wheel side. they moved it in 00 i think, but certainly by 03 and put it on the axle. but other than the tone ring the axles are the same, length, thickness, splines, etc. when shopping for used axles for 90 - 99 legos / outbacks, the chances of getting a good one are greater if you get a younger one. so i shop for '03 axles, (the software will return 00 - 04) and knock off the tone ring.

to be accurate, the phase 2 trans with the spin on filter occurred in the 99 model year, probably a late 98 build date. and according to..... i forget what, probably the used parts interchange software, a few 99 outbacks had the old TZ102Z2DBA trans, but most had the new phase 2 trans, TZ1A2ZJEBA.

if theis number is correct, TZ102ZACAA , it will not fit, it has a 4.11 final drive ratio. it's out of a legacy, probably a 97 or 98. you would need the matching rear diff to make it work and your speedo and power curve would be different. your trans is a TZ102Z2DBA. the last 3 letters are not critical, but the extra big "2" position indicates the final drive ratio. yours is a 4.44 ratio. (any outback trans, 96 - 98 will work just fine. GT and LSi 96 - 98 will also work but the speedo will be a little off.) but for 200$ that's a good price. maybe make your mechanic a bet. if the final drive in the new trans does not match your car, he donates the matching rear diff and diff labor for free. (you need to compare the cost of the correct trans against the one you have plus the extra cost of adding the rear diff.) make the bet, you'll win. i know my late 90s trans code numbers and ratios.